Locked: Student paying for essays/assignments?

dragon_drift wrote: ↑You might get nailed by turnitin or if your professor/TA noticed your writing changed drastically.

nameh wrote: ↑The other day I was having a conversation with one of my friends about keeping up with the course loads, and as I was venting about balancing studying for midterms and completing projects and essays, he said that him and his friends pay to have theirs completed. Now, I attend UofT, and have never really come across many students who do this, or at least admit to doing it. He says it's not too uncommon at the University of Guelph where he goes. He directed me to services like www.theessayplace.com and www.apluswriters.ca (never heard of either :s). They market their service as "research assistance", which is rather deceptive, because students submit the work they pay for as their own. They seem legitimate, theessayplace even has a downtown office which I found kind of strange (you would think they would be a little discrete?)

I always knew services like this existed. Does anyone know what universities do to try and track students who use these websites? Is there anything they can do? These sites make a point about keeping students anonymous. What they really do is give students with a few extra $$ an unfair advantage, and damage the credibility of a university or college degree.

Has anyone used these services? What was your experience like? Do you know of anyone who's been caught?

blitzforce wrote: ↑I've wanted to ask this question for a long time...Would it still be considered academic honesty, if you receive assistance in writing an essay IF the assistance involves only giving you ideas/point-form notes to start you off, but NOT write the assignment for you.

I remember occasions where I was stuck at the first sentence of a tax assignment, and one of my class mates gave me a direction, pin-pointing me to the general chapter/section I should focus on, and after thoroughly studying the chapter, I figured out how to tackle the assignment.

jmatheson64 wrote: ↑I remember reading this article which tuned me into this emerging problem: http://chronicle.com/article/The-Shadow-Scholar/125329/

I've also heard of people using Adderall to prepare them for exams. Crazy.

ashihtaka wrote: ↑Excellent article. I agree with the portrayal of the education system by this writer. I also acknowledge the widespread use of services such as this by at LEAST 20% of every single university and college in Canada and the US.